On Friday (5/14) The Guardian (London) interviews Sphinx Organization Founder and President Aaron Dworkin in response to his receiving honorary membership in the Royal Philharmonic Society. “Growing up as a bi-racial violinist, I have invariably found myself in all musical circumstances (ranging from a youth orchestra to a member of the audience), to be the only one, or one of less-than-a-handful of those who resembled me. Early on, I began to question the reasons for such a stark under-representation of people of colour in the field. As a student at the University of Michigan, I decided to take action and launched the effort to provide an avenue through which the top young string musicians of colour would have access to professional development and performance opportunities. … From the inaugural year of the competition it became clear that these young artists needed support year-round. We also began to look at the issue of access relative to the pipeline. We have formed partnerships with nearly 30 orchestras nationally to provide solo performance opportunities for our Laureates, we began to train them to be ambassadors and serve as role models through their outreach work. … The work is most rewarding, but there is a long road ahead to ensuring that our field is able to reflect the incredible diversity inherent in our society.” Dworkin is a member of the League of American Orchestras’ board of directors.
Posted May 14, 2013
